Page 43 - Solving Housing Disputes

Flexibility

2.58 The stages are not necessarily exclusively sequential. Something may arise at
Stage 2 or 3 which requires Stage 1 investigation or re-investigation.
Likewise, though the HDS would not be part of the current court or tribunal
system, that does not prevent a relationship between them. There is no reason,
for example, why a court could not, having reached a decision which needed
following up (e.g. repairs or application for benefits) refer to the service to
supervise or perform it. If a court concluded that more work could usefully be
undertaken by the HDS, there is no reason why it should not be referred back
to it.

Urgency

2.59 As the first-tier dispute resolution process for housing disputes, the HDS must
be capable of handling urgent issues. We recommend urgent issues be
introduced at the back end of the pilot, once the HDS has satisfied itself
against evaluative measures.

2.60 We recommend that the HDS portal contain a “fast track” for urgent
complaints to be filed digitally by default, but with paper-based channels
retained, and for the HDS to include a dedicated duty team to deal with these
urgent matters 24/7. The team should be capable of conducting investigations
of its own volition when contacted about an urgent matter. That team should
feature officers with experience in the resolution of urgent matters (for
example, local authority environmental health officers who have implemented
Environmental Health and Housing Act urgency provisions, or those who
have previously acted as District Judges). Receipt of an urgent complaint
should see the HDS immediately assess the urgency of the dispute and speak
to the parties, engaging directly with others if necessary, such as local
authorities in circumstances of illegal eviction or safety hazards. Again,
emphasis should be on bringing parties together to see if a solution can be
reached urgently, but if none is forthcoming within a timeframe that the
particular circumstances permit without adversely affecting the complainant,
the HDS should issue an urgent interim determination. If that does not resolve
the urgent issue and if considered necessary, the determination should be
passed directly to a court, through a digital case file, potentially with a
recommendation that a penal notice be issued.

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